Desire
by jbduenweg
Summary: Sean Miller will stop at nothing to exert his revenge on Jack Ryan. But he is torn between his desire to kill Jack, and his desire to take and keep Jack's beautiful and sensitive teenage daughter, Katie.
1. Left, Right, ATTACK!

_Disclaimer_: I do not own the movie 'Patriot Games'. If I did – Sean Miller would be MINE!!!! All I own is Katie.

**CHAPTER 1 – Left, Right, ATTACK!**

Katrina Ryan inhaled deeply the chilly air of London as she trailed behind her mother and little sister, gazing at the grand and beautiful architecture that surrounded them. They had stayed over a week in London, and Katie (as Katrina is most popularly known as) felt is if it had only been a few days. She loved London, and decided to move here after she graduated High School next year.

Her ears picked up the sound of a parade not far away, the drums and horns which sounded so much like her own High School band brought tears to her eyes when she thought of home. She loved London, but she loved the United States even more. It won't be long before she and her family flies back to Maryland, which is her own home state.

Sally, Katie's little sister, was peering at a British guard for the longest time. Katie rolled her eyes and tried not to giggle as Sally broke into a off-beat tap dance move to see if he would notice. Their mother, Catherine, smiled and stepped forward to explain to her why the guard would not even look in her direction and smile at her growing dancing talent.

"He's impressed, but he just can't show it," she gently explained. "He's a professional soldier. Now come on, we've got to meet Daddy."

Sally understood her explanation and saluted to him. "I'm impressed!" she exclaimed.

"Come on, Sal. Dad's waiting!" Katie laughed as she hurried up enough for Sally to chase after her until they caught up with their mother. She turned and smiled at her daughters as she pulled a map out of her pocket.

"Here, Sally," she said. "Help me find the place where we're supposed to meet Daddy."

Sally took the map and studied it for a moment. "When we get to this street...we turn left – no, right."

Katie rolled her eyes. _God, she's just as bad at her lefts and rights as I am! _She thought as she caught up with them.

"Are you sure?" she called. "Don't be getting us lost, now!"

"Okay!" Sally called back. "We turn right!"

Everyone laughed together as the rounded the corner. Katie glanced across the street and noticed a car with a man in the front seat, and two men in the back who were talking with each other. It was just a glance, and Katie thought nothing of it, so she looked away and managed to catch up to her mother and sister again when they reached their destination.

---

"Mind yourself Paddy boy," Sean Miller quickly reminded his younger brother, who was sitting beside him in the back of the car, preparing a 'sticky bomb'. "Move sure and fast."

"You've told me that, didn't you?!" Paddy snapped back, glancing up from the bomb.

"I'm telling you again!" Sean replied, his piercing green eyes flashing. He quickly softened his gaze as he realized how dire their situation was...and how easily they could be killed if they were not careful.

"This won't be like anything you've done before, little brother," he added with gentleness in his voice.

Paddy didn't seem to like how his brother was treating him: like an ignorant child. Even his own father treated him with more respect! He's nearly seventeen years old, and he had plenty of experience – there's no need for Sean to keep telling him what the hell to do over and over again!

Just then, a woman's voice spoke over the CB - "Target is leaving the palace, now."

Kevin O'Donnell turned around to Sean and Paddy. "Stay awake, lads. Here they come."

The car began to move. They loaded their guns, and pulled their ski masks down over their faces.

This was it.

---

Katie rocked back and forth on her feet feeling the chill seeping through her light tan trench coat as she waited for her Dad to come out of the big fancy building in front of them. _Come on, Dad! I'm freezing my freaking ass off here while waiting for yours!! _Katie fumed. Well, she wasn't really fuming, but she was rather impatient.

"Look! There's Daddy!" she heard her mother say to her and Sally. _Finally! You've made your grand arrival already! _

Jack Ryan finally came out of the building, and waved at them. Sally, Katie and Catherine waved back at him. As he was crossing the street, a car suddenly screeched out in front of him, and several more cars arrived out of nowhere, apparently trying to surround a limousine that was just coming around the corner.

Katie's heart stopped as she watched her father observe this situation with concern. In no time, men wearing ski masks and carrying guns and bombs poured out of the cars. Suddenly, Jack came running towards them with panic on his face.

"Get down!" he screamed, flailing his arms. "Get down!"

Catherine quickly understood, and grabbed Sally as Jack approached them. "Get her down! Katie, come here!" he shouted. But Katie was petrified to the spot where she stood...

KABOOM!

A car exploded into a fiery mass, causing Katie to snap out of her shock. She raced towards her family where they huddled by a car right when the debris from the car splattered everywhere around them.

Then the sound of gunfire filled her ears. Katie craned her head up from where she was squatting by her mother and Sally to see what was happening. Two of the aggressors were gunning down the limo drivers, while two more were trying to get the passengers out of the limo.

"Get out of the car!" one of them shouted with a thick Irish accent, banging against the door. "Get out!"

Out of the corner of her eye, Katie noticed her father getting up. "Keep her down!" he ordered as he began to sprint towards the scene!

"Jack!" Catherine called.

Katie panicked. She couldn't let her Dad get killed! She had to stop him!

"DAD!" she screamed, jumping to her feet.

"Katie, no!" her mother shouted after her, for Katie was already running after father. If he does get killed, she won't know what to do with herself.

"Open the fucking door!" the man ordered the passengers again, having no clue of what was to happen next. "Open it, or I'll blow it up!"

At that moment, Jack flung himself against him from behind, and shoved him down onto the ground.

Katie's lungs burned from the moist cold air and her heart pounded with terror as she dashed around the maze of cars until she finally caught up with her father, who had bleeding wound in his shoulder. Katie was horrified, a sickening feeling overcoming her from the pit of her stomach.

"Dad!" she called. She started to run to him, but she was stopped short when a bullet whistled past her from the gun Jack was holding.

"Katie, look out!" Jack shouted back at her.

But before Katie could catch her breath, someone fell on her. By instinct, Katie grabbed hold of whoever fell against her as she managed to fall down onto the hard pavement with the stranger in her arms. She figured it was one of the terrorists, and her father had shot him after he had been shot himself, so she was safe in her awkward situation. Still, she was terrified from her very close proximity with him.

Struggling, Katie managed to sit up and get onto her knees while she still held onto him. She looked down at his mostly covered face. His blue eyes were wide with fear and pain, and they did not look at her. Curious, Katie reached under his chin and pulled off the ski mask. Looking at her was the face of someone..._my age. Oh my God! My Dad shot someone my age!_

"Oh, Dad! What did you do?" she wailed.

The boy looked up at her, the color beginning to drain from his face. His eyes lit up at the sight of her. With all the strength he could muster, he slowly reached up towards her face. She felt her heart skip a beat when she felt the tips of his ice cold fingers brush against her cheek. Tear brimmed her eyes as her throat tightened from the urge to cry.

Then he began to choke and gasp for breath. Katie started dreading about what was about to happen next, and she didn't want it to happen.

"No...no, don't die. My mom's a doctor. She'll take care of you," she whispered as she gently grasped his hand. "Please don't die." She choked back a sob, feeling a tear slide down her cheek.

His eyes went into the distance as a trickle of blood seeped from the corner of his mouth. His hand dropped down onto his chest as the last breath escape his lungs. She felt his body go limp.

He was dead.

"No," she gasped, gently shaking his shoulder. "Wake up! Please wake up!"

She placed her hand on his abdomen to see if he was breathing, and felt warm moistness instead. She lifted her hand up and turned it over to see blood covering her palm and fingers. Her body began to shake as she felt herself sobbing, tears blurring her vision. He was dead. He didn't have to die! Why did she have to see him die? Why did her father have to kill him? She didn't know him, but that didn't matter to her.

"Stop!" a voice of a man shouted behind her. "Army! Drop it!"

British soldiers raced around her, pointing their guns at her father, who was slumped against a car, keeping his gun trained at the man he knocked down. He slowly let his gun fall from his hand. He had been wounded seconds before his daughter barely missed being shot herself. He had watched Katie fret over the dying boy, and felt a pang of regret and sadness from what he had done; killed a boy her age, and watching his daughter watch him die in her arms.

Sean's face was pushed back down onto the ground as his arms were pulled behind his back. He kept his eyes trained on his little brother and the girl, even while his ski mask was being pulled off of his head.

"Help the boy," he said.

Katie couldn't feel the soldiers' grip on her arms as she stared with complete shock at the boy. The soldier lifted her to her feet, and moved her aside. She couldn't see the boy through her tear-blurred vision anyway. She wiped her hand on her tan coat, leaving a crimson print and wipe mark.

The soldier bent down to check Paddy's pulse on his neck. There was none, obviously. "Nope, he's had it," the soldier stated as he closed Paddy's eyes.

How could his dear little Paddy die? This was not fair! Sean's heart pounded with anger. He turned his head towards the man who killed him. He will not let this murderer get away with what he had done!

Catherine was comforting Sally, leaving her in the care of a woman she knew, when she headed over to her husband. The soldier standing by him stopped her. "Stand back, ma'am."

"He's my husband," she explained firmly. "I'm a doctor, and I'm going to treat him."

The soldier let her through. She knelt down next to Jack and began to scold him. "Jesus, Jack! What were you and Katie thinking of?" Jack smirked back at her with a drowsy look on his face.

"I'm going to set you down," she said as she laid him down onto his back. "Stay with me, Jack. You hear me?" He felt himself fading into unconsciousness. "Jack...stay with me. Jack?"

Meanwhile, Katie couldn't breathe, her chest was so tight. She just had a kid her age die in her arms who was shot by her own father! _This is going to haunt me for the rest of my life! Why did Dad have to kill him?_

At that moment, Katie remembered that her dad had been hurt, so she wiped her eyes with her clean hand, and managed to approach the area where she had last seen him, only to find that her mother was already taking care of him, and he had passed out. Katie was worried. _I hope we will be okay. I'm sure he will be, since Mom's taking care of him. _She felt guilty that she had more concern over a stranger than she had over her own father. _I'm such a weird person. I should've cared less about the boy, and be more concerned about my own dad. I am concered - I didn't want him to get hurt, and he did. I'm such an ass! _Her eyes began to water up again.

Just then, Sean was pulled up to his his feet. Katie blinked until her eyes were clear to see another face that looked very much like the boy's...but older. Could he be his father? No, too young. Brother? She slowly walked up to him. He was looking down at his brother, and didn't notice her.

"W-who was he?" she forced herself to ask him. His furious gaze turned to her, and softened a little at her sorrowful face. One of the soldiers tugged at his arm. "Come on, you!" he growled at Sean, but Sean strained against his grip to answer her.

"He was my little brother," he replied, his voice shaking. Another soldier joined the other one, and the both forcibly led Sean away from Katie. Sean's eyes never left hers, and hers never left his.

_Oh my God, Dad! What did you _do_?_


	2. Thinking of You

_Disclaimer_: I do not own the movie 'Patriot Games'. If I did – Sean Miller would be MINE!!!! All I own is Katie.

**CHAPTER 2 – Thinking of You**

Katie tuned out the busy noises of the hospital as she sat in the waiting room. The image of the boy dying in her arms played over and over in her head, and it tormented her to no end. The thought of her father being shot tore at her like a coyote tearing at a carcass, and the memory of the look on that man's face when she asked him who the boy was.

"_He was my little brother."_

The back of her throat stung, and her eyes began to water up with tears when she recalled his answer. He was so traumatized. He had lost a loved one by the hand of her own loved one she had nearly lost herself. She couldn't forget his face. No matter how hard she tried, the man's horrified and heartbroken face will never leave her memories.

With a sigh, Katie leaned forward until her forehead touched the top of her knees. She tried for the longest time to fight off the urge to go to that man and beg him for forgiveness of what her father had done to protect the lives of the Royals. He was a man simply doing his job, there was no hatred or personal vendetta against him or his brother – he just wanted to keep the act from being fulfilled.

At the thought of explaining her father's intentions to that man, Kate straightened up and dug out her notebook out of her tote she was holding. She felt around the bottom of the bag until she located her pen. Opening her notebook to a fresh page, she began to write...

_**Dear**_

She froze. What was his name? Katie pondered for a short moment before realizing that she had no idea what his name was, but decided to keep on writing. _I will fill in his name later when I find out what it is. I hope._

_**Please understand that what my father did was his job (or former job, that is) and he just couldn't stand there and allow any harm to come to anyone. I'm sure that if you were in his shoes, you would've done the same thing. You must believe me that my father did not mean to kill your brother simply because he was your brother. He was defending himself, and began shooting at anyone who was shooting at him. **_

_**My father is a brave and good man, and I believe you are, too. You believed in something, and you thought by what you and those men did was a was a proper demonstration of your beliefs. I really don't understand what is going on in your country, so please bear with me if I am incorrect. I know you want your country to be free, but terrorism is not the answer, and never has been and never will be. I am sure you are an intelligent person, and you have studied history to understand that there are other alternatives to work out political problems. **_

_**You have my most deepest sympathies about your brother's death. You ought to know, since I watched him die in my arms. It's really hard for me to think about, and it's very hard for you to think about, too. He was too young to die, and we both know that for sure. It wasn't fair, and that angers me. War is terrible, but it happens no matter what. I hate it.**_

_**Please keep this letter as a reminder of how much I really care about**_

Katie's cheeks warmed at that very...intimate...sentence. She wondered how he would interpret this letter if he ever were to receive it. Would he get the wrong idea? Would he think she was crazy? Would this make_ him_ crazy? Would he even _get _this letter at all? With all those thoughts swirling around in her head, Katie realized that her mother could walk into the waiting room and...

_Oh forget it! I'll just write it out, and if he get this letter, and thinks I have a crush on him or something, that's **his** problem!_

With that, Katie finished the sentence with a _'**you.**'. _With that bump plowed though, she kept writing.

_**Don't get the wrong idea. I'm not taking sides, I'm just apologizing on my father's behalf. Also, I beg you not to hate him or us. And if you get let out of jail, please don't come after us for revenge or anything like that. It won't get you anywhere, nor will it bring your brother back or replace him. It will just make things worse. I don't dislike you at all, and I really do care. **_

_**Sincerely Yours;**_

_**Katrina (Katie) Jane Ryan.**_

Katie let out a sigh and leaned back into her chair and closed her eyes. That letter was extremely difficult for her to write, and, thanks to her tiny-but-readable handwriting, it was a page long on both sides. Opening her eyes, she quickly folded the paper into a tiny square and tucked it into her wallet that was inside her tote.

Just then, someone entered the waiting room. Feeling paranoid, Katie hugged her tote to her chest as she watched him pick up the TV remote, sit down, and turn off the 'mute' control that Katie had turned on earlier when she wanted to rest. The first thing she saw was the scene where she was at just hours ago. Her stomach flipped-flopped at the familiar sight on the screen. She felt exposed and vulnerable, even though no one knows who she is..._yet._

"There's a feeling of outrage over this attack on the Royal Family," the CNN reporter narrated. "No group has yet claimed credit, but one is under strong scrutiny. The IRA."

Katie's ears burned along with the tears welling up in her eyes again. She felt...panicked. The reporter continued to talk as Katie mentally struggled to calm herself.

"According to eyewitness accounts, Lord William Holmes, the Minister for Northern Ireland,along with his wife and son, were saved by an American tourist, John Patrick Ryan."

Then the image of her father's face, when he was in his Marine uniform, appeared on the screen. Katie then felt protected and proud. She smiled slightly at the picture. _He is a good man, and the IRA should know that. _

"An author and professor at the Naval Academy in Maryland, Ryan is a former Marine Lieutenant," the reporter continued. "He was wounded and is under guard at an undisclosed London hospital. This is Deborah Weston, CNN News, London."

Leaning her head back onto the back of the chair, Katie heaved another sigh, puffing her cheeks out a little. _This is going to be interesting_, she thought.

Meanwhile, Catherine was with Jack in his room. She affectionately rubbed his uninjured arm as they sat in silence for a while.

"I'm sorry," Jack sighed, feeling drained and a little worried.

"It's all right," Catherine smiled. "You're _alive_. l forgive you. Otherwise ..."

Jack sighed again as his eyes wandered to the tiles on the ceiling. Then he looked at his wife.

"How are the girls?" he asked in almost a whisper. "Are they all right?"

"Sally can't wait until you get better, and Katie..." Catherine sighed and quickly looked away as she felt the sting of her tears coming to surface.

"What's wrong, honey?" Jack inquired, a little concerned about his daughter, simply by the way his wife was acting at the mention of her name. She looked at him.

"She is so traumatized, Jack," she whispered, shaking her head. "She shouldn'tve gone through all that."

"She is a stubborn girl, like you," Jack chuckled, only to wince and grunt when a surge of pain shot through his shoulder wound.

"Easy, Jack," Catherine chided.

Jack gazed lovingly at his wife as she checked his bandages.

"l love you," he said after a moment of his gazing. She smiled, and leaned in to kiss him.

"I love you, too," she whispered back.

* * *

Sean sat stubbornly in his chair in the interrogation room, not willing to peep a word. He turned the unlit cigarette that was offered to him over and over in his hands that were tucked between his knees under the desk.

Inspector Robert Highland sat across from him, his beady, menacing dark eyes boring into Sean, who avoided his unnerving gaze.

"Can you dignify their cowardice with your silence?" he spoke slowly and angrily. "They left you. They drove off without you. What is it you think you owe them?"

Sean gritted his teeth. The girl. The young, beautiful girl was the last thing his little brother saw before he died. The image of him reaching up to touch her face with all the strength he could muster played over and over in Sean's head. The sound of the Inspector's gnawing voice seemed to fade into the background.

"If any of my mates left me in your hands, I'd feel no great sense of loyalty," the Inspector went on as he leaned towards Sean. "I'd _kill_ them."

Sean avoided the Inspector's piercing glare, diverting his thoughts elsewhere – the daughter of the man who killed his brother. How could he easily plot his revenge if he had developed the so-called 'soft spot' to the young and caring girl?

"_No! Wake up! Please, wake up!" The girl grabbed hold of Paddy's shoulder and gently shook it._

"Who are they, Sean?" the Inspector pressed, his voice growing impatient. "Where are they? The trip was unscheduled, but you knew Lord Holmes would be there."

Forcing himself to breathe evenly, Sean kept his eyes trained on the table. He was not going to answer him. He was not going to utter a sound, no less a word. The Inspector sighed, and got up to his feet. As he walked past Sean, he placed his hand on his shoulder. Sean felt his skin crawl from the touch.

"I can't help you if you don't talk to me, Sean," the Inspector stated. Then he made for the door as one of the men in the room shut off the recording machine.

"_I can't help you if you don't talk to me..." _

"Do I have to talk to _you_?" Sean piped up, not turning around to the Inspector, who stopped in his tracks at the sound of his voice.

He turned back around and quickly approached Sean until he was in front of him. "I beg your pardon?"

Sean's glowering green eyes met his. "I will talk, but not to you." He looked at the other men in the room. "Not to any of you!"

"What are you talking about?" the Inspector pressed. "Do you wish to be interrogated by someone else?"

Sean looked back at him, with an excited glow in his eyes, yet his face remained stoic. "Yes, I do. But I want no one in the room, and that not running." He nodded towards the recorder machine.

"Just give me a name, Sean," the Inspector scowled. "That's all I want."

"The daughter of the man who shot my little brother," Sean forced himself to say, his stomach clenching with agitation "I will tell her _everything_."

At first, the Inspector just looked at him as if he had gone insane. Then he exchanged looks with the other men who thought the same thing. Then he looked back at Sean.

"Out of the question!" he snarled, leaning onto the table so he could be right in Sean's face "Are you daft enough to even think of Jack Ryan allowing his daughter to get within a hundred kilometers of you?"

"I would never think of harming her," Sean quietly but firmly answered, his eyes meeting the Inspector's with full honesty. The Inspector eyed him for a good twelve seconds before suddenly breaking eyes contact and drew up to his full height.

"You know it's going to be one hell of a challenge to persuade Ryan to go through with this," he spoke calmly. "But I trust you, Sean. He doesn't."

Sean looked back down onto the tabletop, and crushed the unlit cigarette in his fist. _She will trust me._ He thought. _I'll make sure I earn her trust, and that she has mine._

**Let me know if I should have Katie and Sean meet up in the next chapter! Thanks to my first reviewers!!! jb**


	3. A Nice Boy

_Disclaimer_: I do not own the movie 'Patriot Games'. If I did – Sean Miller would be MINE!!!! All I own is Katie.

**A/N: **Okay, I am going to have Sean and Katie meet up in the next chapter instead of this one, so things can be worked out – and the Inspector can have a chance to reveal the 'news'. Enjoy!

**A/N: **Also, I have the perfect 'image' of Katie – what about Kristen Stewart's Bella Swan version from the movie 'Twilight'? Just her appearance and behavior from that film, but as a different character. (I have never read any of the Twilight books, so let me know if this is inappropriate) How does that sound?

* * *

**CHAPTER 3 – A Nice Boy**

Doors passed by Katie as she briskly strode down the hall of the hospital, her heart pounding with anxiety in her chest. She had received a call this morning to meet with an Inspector Robert Highland and her father in her father's hospital room – and she had a queasy feeling that this was about the man she could not get out of her mind.

He was now tormenting her in her dreams. His little brother had haunted her unconscious mind, his dying blue eyes staring into hers as crimson blood trickled out of the corner of his mouth. She could still feel his cold, soft fingertips brush against her cheek. Shuddering away the vivid and painful memories, Katie grabbed the handle, and slowly opened the door. The voice of her father drifted to her ears like a refreshing breeze.

"What can you tell me about this guy?" he had asked. From the small opening of the door, Katie could see that he was sitting up in his bed, his shoulder bandaged, his arm in a sling. He was holding a small photograph in his hand. Katie quickly pulled the door closed, since she had only opened it a few inches. She felt her heart pounding harder as she listened to their conversation through an infinitesimal crack in the door.

"He's a nice boy. Sean Miller," a man's voice sarcastically answered with a deep Irish accent. "He shot a priest in Derry. It was during confession. He thought he was informing for the British."

_Sean Miller... _Katie felt her eyes widen. She knew that they were talking about him. _Is he that crazy and dangerous to shoot a priest? I guess so, since he did try to kill the Royal family..._

"It's not in Mr Ryan's best interests, nor the prosecution's, to discuss matters not directly at hand," another man's voice spoke up. It was a lighter voice, but still had a similar accent. He sounded a bit irritated.

"If you can confirm for me that you disarmed that man in the square, we'll be through," the high-voiced man continued, perhaps addressing Jack.

"I can," Jack quickly answered. Katie swallowed the lump in her throat. She was not ready for this...

"Do you have anything to add?" the man asked her father.

"Yes," her father replied. "The man l killed was Miller's..."

Katie felt her breath catch itself in her chest. _Oh my God, I can't take this..._

"...Brother," finished the first man who was speaking earlier about the priest. "Patrick ... not even 17. He was recruited by Sean into the IRA."

_WHAT! _Blood rushed into Katie's ears. This time, she felt anger. She felt anger towards Sean. _If it wasn't for Sean recruiting his brother..._

"Try to preserve the clarity of your eventual testimony," stated the second man.

"I read it in a newspaper," Jack answered.

"Refrain from reading newspapers" the man cut in.

"Not even Doonesbury?" Jack said. Katie could hear the smirk in his voice. _Always joking around, aren't you, Dad? _She thought as a smile crept onto her face.

"Do you have anything to add?" the man's voice said, ignoring the joke.

"No," Jack replied firmly.

There was silence. Katie's ears throbbed with each pound of her heart, when the second man's voice nearly startled her.

"Where's your daughter, Mr. Ryan? I need to speak with her," he demanded, sounding a little more annoyed than before.

"She should be here in any minute," Jack replied. Katie took the cue, and pushed the door open as she stepped in.

"There you are!" her father smiled. "Katie, this is Inspector Highland and Sergeant Owens,"

Katie extended her hand to each man before she seated herself on the other side of her father. Owen's hand felt rough, and Highland's hand felt cold and clammy. Katie had to stop herself from shuddering again. Highland's eyes were small and beady with an unnerving glare once they were directed in Katie's direction.

"Now, how close were you to your father when he disarmed the men in the square?" he inquired, his menacing, beady eyes boring into her hazel ones. Katie swallowed the dryness in her throat before she came up with an answer.

"I chased after him when he went to stop what was happening," Katie took a breath, trying to recall what was already playing over and over in her mind. "When I ran around a car, I felt someone fall on me..." her eyes darted towards her father, who gently nodded for her to go on. She turned back to Highland, and continued with a stronger tone to her voice. "I was only a few feet away from my father. He was wounded, with a gun on the other man."

Highland nodded slowly, letting her information sink in. He tore his eyes away from hers, and wrote something down on a pad of paper. Katie could feel the tension rising in the room, but she couldn't figure out why... Highland cleared this throat to get her attention

"Miss Ryan, I've heard from the guards that you spoke to Sean Miller while he was being arrested. What did you say?"

Katie was taken aback. She could feel her father's shock, she could see the surprise in the Sergeant's eyes. _When did I talk to him? What did I say? _Katie found herself panicking in silence.

"Miss?" the Inspector pressed, his voice sharply cutting into her thoughts. Katie quickly collected her thoughts on the matter before calmly answering him.

"I asked him who the boy was," Katie spoke, barely above a whisper. "He said that he was his little brother."

"And that was all that was said?" Highland inquired, raising his thin eyebrows. There was a still and tense silence in the air as Katie searched her thoughts for more details of her brief exchange with Sean.

"Yes, that is all," she gulped after a moment. She looked down at her hands, unable to look Highland in his creepy dark eyes any longer. Then his voice cut into the silence, causing Katie to look right at him, as if he had just shouted.

"Mr. Ryan, I need to ask you for your permission to have your daughter interrogate Miller this evening."

Jack blinked with confusion, allowing his unusual request to sink in. "You're asking me permission to have my daughter do _what_?"

The Sergeant squirmed in his seat, well aware of the stupidity of the Inspector's question. "Miller asked for it," he spoke, ignoring Highland's glare. "All he had done in the last three days was breathe. He didn't say a word to us until last night."

"What did he say?" asked Jack, with impatience and exasperation in his voice.

"He said that he will talk, but not to me or anyone there," droned Highland in reply. "He specifically wanted to tell everything he knew to your daughter."

"But what for?" Jack said with a chuckle, not out of humor but out of botheration.

"Because he saw his brother die in her arms, and I guess he considers her as something special," the Sergeant said.

Katie couldn't believe what she had just heard. _Sean Miller asked for me to interrogate him? This is unbelievable! This could be my chance to give him my letter!_ Her stomach flipped nervously as she watched the faces of the three men around her. Jack was shaking his head with disbelief, while the other two men waited patiently for his response.

"It out of the question, I'm sorry," Jack sighed. "I will not let my daughter within a million miles of that maniac! It's not gonna happen."

"Dad-" Katie cut in. All eyes were on her in an instant. "I – I can do it. He does need to talk, anyhow..."

"Katrina, do you know how dangerous that man is?" Jack calmly replied. "Did you see what he was doing that day in the square?"

"Yes, but-"

"You're not going, and that's final."

"Maybe you don't understand," Highland intervened. "We _need_ for him to talk, and we must get him to talk by _any_ means necessary."

"Even to the deprivation of my daughter?" Jack snapped back, his voice raising. The tension in the room was almost too much for Katie to bear. Her pleading eyes in her father's direction calmed him just a bit.

"No harm will come to her, Mr. Ryan," Highland replied, standing up. "You have my word on that."

"I'm going," Jack stated the second Highland finished his sentence. Katie looked at her father with shock. It relieved her to be under her father's protection while she's in the same area as Sean Miller, but she did feel worry about the fact that Sean could try to attack him in his fragile state.

"Pardon?" Highland couldn't believe his ears, either.

"If you insist on having my daughter interrogate that hellion, then I will be right there to make sure you keep your word about her safety," Jack finished, his blue eyes glaring and his chest puffing up with aggression despite the placidity of his voice.

Katie felt her chest tighten with anxiety. She couldn't even imagine what would transpire this evening in the interrogation room, but it frightened her. She had nothing and everything to say about this. So she kept quiet. At least she could know how long she had before facing Sean...

"What time do I have to be there?" she asked the Inspector, her voice stronger than she had thought it would be.

"Eight fifteen," he replied as he packed his suitcase. "You'll be there?"

"We'll both be," Katie replied, swallowing hard.

_I hope all goes well..._

The Inspector and the Sergeant said goodbye to Jack and Katie, and walked out. When the door shut behind him, Jack let out a breath of air. Katie stiffened. _Is he going to berate me for agreeing to this? I really need to talk to Sean and give him the letter, but I am so scared!_

"Those men are asking too much from you," Jack said. "Highland said that you had to testify against Sean Miller tomorrow morning."

_WHAT?! _Katie's eyes widened as she looked right at her father, who stared ahead of him out of the window.

"They didn't tell you that, did they?" he sighed, and then shook his head. "This is getting ridiculous."

"I can't just interrogate him one day, and then testify against him the next! That's stupid!" Katie gasped.

"Tell me about it," Jack chuckled. "I can't believe I let them talk me into the interrogation in the first place."

Katie couldn't talk anymore. This was too much for her to handle. _That Inspector never said a word about having me testify in court! This is betrayal, and they know it! This just keeps getting worse and worse! Whatever am I gonna do?_

"You'd better get back to mom and Sally," Jack said after a moment of deep thought. "You look like you need more rest than I do."

Feeling guilty about the whole situation, Katie smiled weakly back. She stood up and smoothed out her green sweater before speaking again.

"In five hours, I am going into hell," she said with her inherited chuckle, but her eyes glistened with tears.

Jack held out his good arm towards Katie. "Come here."

Katie bent down and hugged her father as he patted her back. "You're gonna be fine," he said. "Just fine."

But she could hear the worry in his voice.


End file.
